Comfort in Silence
by 0.22caliber
Summary: "And when it was clear, they'd park her in the middle of nowhere. Sit on the hood and watch the stars for hours, without saying a word." Pre-series. Sam is 14, Dean is 18.


Dean tapped his thumbs idly against the steering wheel of the Impala to the quiet tune of _ Hell's Bells,_ barely audible over the purring engine. He had turned the music down low after he had noticed his brother slumped against the window, breaths evening out with sleep. A quick glance at his watch showed it to be after 1 a.m. and he knew that he should pull over somewhere and try to sleep so he didn't end up exhausted the next day.

The two brothers had departed nearly six hours ago, intending to just hole up in some motel until their father finished a hunt that he had decided could be finished quicker alone. After they had separated, Dean realized, to his dismay that he had foolishly left the credit card he was given presumably in the hotel room they were staying at that afternoon. He called his father, who, after confirming that Dean had some cash for food, chastised that it was his own damn fault. So Dean and Sam had to be content with spending the next night or two in the car.

Dean didn't mind too much. Sure, a bed and a shower would have been nice, but there was something comforting about driving the deserted Nevada highway, nothing ahead besides the great clear sky. He continuously switched his gaze from the road in front of him to what he could see of the sky above. His attention was fully directed to the sky, however, when a movement caught his eye. Just as he was about to dismiss it as his imagination, Dean saw it again, more clearly this time. A bright white line slashed through the sky, searing with bright light and fading as quick as it appeared. Without a second thought, the Impala was steered off the shallow slope where the worn asphalt met the dry dirt dotted with dry patches of shrubs. Dean drove several yards away from the road, away from the occasional passing headlights, then turned the ignition and silenced the engine. He had to blink a couple times to be able to see anything in the sudden darkness.

Sam, who was still sleeping peacefully, shifted in his sleep. Dean nudged his shoulder gently several times.

"Hey. Sammy," he whispered, as if he didn't want to disturb the silence. Sam groaned in protest before sitting up straight and rubbing a hand over his eyes.

"What's going on?" he asked, suddenly alarmed at the realization that they weren't driving anymore.

"Meteor shower," Dean responded, and swung open his door with a creak.

"Oh, cool." Sam relaxed and followed suit. It was a crisp, cool January night, the sky was completely clear, and it was nice to stretch his legs and back which were stiff from sitting for so long. The atmosphere was eerie; the general silence of the area intensified every tiny noise- the surrounding chirp of crickets, the soft rustle of the breeze, the _tink _of the cooling engine.

Walking stiffly around the front of the car, Dean pulled his jacket tighter around him, his knuckles brushing reassuringly against the cool metal of the firearm in his waistband. He scanned the area and slid up onto the hood of the Impala. Folding his arms behind his head, he gently leaned back against the windshield. Sam followed moments later, positioning himself comfortably by his brother's side.

"So where are we now?" Sam inquired, fixing his gaze on the sky above.

"South Nevada."

"You can see a lot tonight. There's Orion." Sam pointed almost straight above them, and then to the side a bit, "And his dog."

"There's Jupiter," Dean pointed out with interest.

"Oh yeah. And there's Gemini, and- whoa." Sam's sentence was cut short when a thin, bright trail of light zoomed across the sky. Sam thought of what he had learned about meteors in school. They seemed amazing from the pages of a text book, but it didn't compare to actually sitting under the stars and seeing them in person, silently counting each one that passed.

"Hey Dean?" Sam broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think there's anything else out there?"

"What, like aliens?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"I definitely wouldn't be surprised."

"Me neither," Sam agreed.

The two relaxed into a comfortable silence and stared up into the night, which looked ready to swallow the Earth whole. Dean became lost in his own thoughts. There was so much out there, and even though the argument could be made that his and his dad and brother's job was more important than even the president, it all seemed insignificant in the long run. A while later, Dean was jolted from his philosophical thinking when he realized Sam was shivering next to him. He outstretched an arm and put it around Sam's shoulders. Sam gratefully scooted closer, glad to have Dean as a sort of barrier to the cool January air.

"You wanna get going?" Dean asked.

"No way," Sam responded. Sure, he was a little cold, but who knows how long it could be before he would get the chance to see the sky so illuminated with lights gleaming from one end of the horizon to the next, and on such a clear night. Dean chuckled.

"Just don't freeze your ass off." After a quick unnoticed eye roll, Sam burrowed even closer to his brother's side, breathing in the familiar scent of the leather jacket.

"What time is it anyways?" Sam wondered aloud. Dean raised the arm that was still behind his head and brought it close to his face, focusing his eyes on his watch.

"Almost 2:30."

They stayed that way for the rest of the night, occasionally exchanging a few words, or pointing when a particularly bright meteor flew by overhead. After a while the only lights they saw in the sky were stationary stars and planets, and the sky began to fade from black to a pale, watered down grey until they could no longer see any pin pricks of light.

"I guess we should get going. Dad might call soon," Dean said, sitting up and stretching his arms out in front of him.

"Yeah," was Sam's response, preceding a yawn. "That was really cool," he said.

"Yeah, it was really cool," his brother agreed.

Simultaneously, they slid off of opposite sides of the Impala's hood and climbed inside, the doors squeaking open and shut. While they probably wouldn't even talk about the night for a while, at least not to their dad, that was definitely on the list of things they should do again.


End file.
